Tag: missions

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Missions

Prayers for Missions from Missionaries.

I ran across these prayers for missions from some who have gone before us as they prayed about their desire to be used by God in His plan to save those who are lost:

portrait of john hyde and praying hands as a representative of these missionaries who had bold prayers for missions
“Praying” John Hyde

“O Lord, give me souls, or take my soul!” –George Whitefield, famous English evangelist in the 1700s.
“Lord, to Thee I dedicate myself, oh accept of me, and let me be Thine forever. Lord, I desire nothing else, I desire nothing more.” –David Brainerd, missionary to North American Indians in the 18th century.
“Give what Thou wilt, and how much Thou wilt, and when Thou wilt. Set me where Thou wilt and deal with me in all things as Thou wilt.” –Thomas à Kempis, 1379–1471.
“Use me then, my Savior, for whatever purpose and in whatever way Thou may require. Here is my poor heart, an empty vessel, fill it with Thy grace.” –Dwight L. Moody in the 1800s.
“Here let me burn out for God.” –Henry Martyn, a missionary, as he knelt on the ground in India in 18th century.
“Father, give me these souls, or I die.” –John Hyde, missionary to India, 19th century.

Are your prayers similar to these in any way?

So many of us pray in the following way for missions: “God send them. God use them. God speak to them.”
Yet these great missionaries and evangelists all said: “God use me, God send me, God speak to me, God help me lead people to You.”

We need to start praying to God about our direct involvement in missions. It doesn’t mean you have to go around the world, it just means we need to open our eyes to opportunities to be on mission around us. (Though, if you are truly open to God’s calling, He might just call you to the other side of the world!)

If the Bible is a missionary book, the people of the Book are charged with being a missionary people.

Let me conclude with an encounter after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. One of my church members was working with a Christian organization to provide grants for rebuilding. During one interview, a man came in and shared this with my friend Charles. He said:

My entire life, I have been so bad to God. But since Katrina, He has been so good to me. Volunteers are rebuilding my house, God has provided for my needs through church people from other parts of our country, and I have a restored relationship with God. All of the loss and devastation that happened to me through Katrina was worth it for me to have a right relationship with God.

Isn’t that what we want to hear as the result of our involvement with other people – that someone who was Lost is now Found? God has called you to a difficult task, but He has a plan for using you to make a difference in peoples’ lives right where you work and live. Let us not worry so much about how God might bless our lives, but let us consider how we might bless our Lord, our Savior, as we obey His calling to share Him with others.

There’s one thing you cannot do about missions: get rid of your responsibility.

Categories
Missions

Crazy Missionaries. Why Do So Many of Us Think Missionaries Are a Bit “Off”?

Crazy Missionaries. Idealistic Dreamers. Men and Women Enjoying an Extended Vacation. These are some of our secret thoughts about those who go overseas with the gospel.

I don’t mean this post to be offensive in any way. I don’t want you to think I am not a patriot or am in any way criticizing our military. I am so proud of the men and women who serve in our Armed Forces in a sacrificial way. I am just wondering why we Christians aren’t just as proud and supportive of our missionaries who serve God’s Kingdom in a sacrificial way.

After watching the movie, The Insanity of God, the following question was raised in one of my men’s small groups:
“Why is it that we applaud young men and women for volunteering to join the military, knowing that they might have to lose their lives in service to this country, yet we often have less favorable thoughts about those who volunteer to become missionaries?”

It is odd that both groups choose to risk their lives for a cause they believe in, and for one group we call them “patriots” and are proud of their sacrificial decision, but for the other group we think of them as “idealistic dreamers” who need to get a dose of reality because we feel they are spending their lives frivolously.

This is not a new phenomenon. Many of the missionaries in the past faced the same type of negative scrutiny from others. Too often, they heard negative comments from fellow Christians.

an ancient map of the world to go along with a post on crazy missionariesLeaders in the British East India Company said at the beginning of the nineteenth century: “The sending of Christian missionaries into our Eastern possessions [India] is the maddest, most expensive, most unwarranted project that was ever proposed by a lunatic enthusiast.” Ouch! What an encouragement that must have been to those who felt called of God to reach the lost people of India.

However, at the close of that same century, the English Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal said: “In my judgment, Christian missionaries have done more lasting good to the people of India than all other agencies combined.”

I have known of multiple families who made sure that their children were in the missions education programs of their church (such as the R.A.’s and G.A.’s for Southern Baptists), and yet when their young adult children indicated that God was calling them into overseas, cross-cultural missions, the families quickly indicated to them that they must have misunderstood what God said.

Even now, I know of missionaries whose families are not extremely supportive of what they do, nor of the costs that they pay to follow the call of God. It is as if many of us think that because the missionaries are in far-off, “exotic” places that they are on some kind of extended vacation. The reality is that the mission field can be lonely and difficult and cause missionaries to have the cry of Jeremiah when he said:

O LORD, you deceived me, and I was deceived; you overpowered me and prevailed. I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me. Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction. So the word of the LORD has brought me insult and reproach all day long.

Lottie Moon prayed: “I hope no missionary will be as lonely as I have been.”

Not only are our missionaries isolated from family and friends as they try to share the message of Jesus with people who often are not receptive, but too often it is their own families, friends, and church members who are not very supportive. We ask awkward questions such as, “When are you coming home?” when their home is now on foreign soil where they live for 50 out of 52 weeks each year. I fear that we have not served well as senders of those we know who serve as missionaries. In fact, some of us have inwardly considered them a bit crazy, just like the East India Company leadership did.

I am glad that the missionaries I know have had the additional feeling that Jeremiah shared when he followed up his complaint with:

But if I say, “I will not mention him or speak any more in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.

Let us who know missionaries be better senders. Let us think better thoughts of them. They are not on an extended vacation. They have devoted their very lives to endure hardship, persecution, loneliness, and isolation all for the sake of the gospel. Their love for God and the lost has compelled them to go. May our love for God and for the lost compel us to support them with our inner thoughts, our love, our words, and our actions. Let us always remember these truths and applaud them for their willing sacrifices. Let us thank them for their example to us of what it means to lay down their lives for Jesus and others. And may we never discourage our own children or fellow church members from the missionary call of God.

Categories
Missions

What Does a Dead Church Look Like? A Dilapidated Building?

picture of an abandoned church building that is falling apart, perhaps what some would call a dead church

I have always appreciated this description of a Dead Church that I ran across a few years ago:

A painter was asked to paint a picture of a dead church. What the client expected was probably the picture of an old ruin that had been taken over by vines of ivy and has been left in disrepair, such as the remains of some Gothic cathedral such as are seen in France or Italy. The painter, however, took a different approach, and painted a picture that was like a sermon. On his canvas he painted the inside of a cozy, well-furnished church: upholstered pews, a large organ, a beautiful wooden pulpit, and a congregation whose appearance indicated sophistication and prosperity. But over in the corner near the exit, he painted the picture of a box bearing the inscription “FOR MISSIONS,” and covering over the slot for contributions you could see a large, undisturbed cobweb. The painter knew that a church that cares nothing for missions is dead (or is dying), even if there are plenty of people in attendance.

James tells us to “Be Doers of the Word and not Hearers only.”
If you are involved in a healthy church, you’ve heard that you should be involved in missions. So have you done anything about it? It doesn’t have to be missions overseas. There are people who live near you and work beside you who God has placed near you for a reason.

Don’t be so busy with your own life that you miss the very ones that God has brought into your pathway, so that you can be the hands and feet and voice of Christ to these who are hurting and need to know Jesus.

Pray that God would break your heart for the people around you who need to know Him.

Categories
Christian Living

You Were Placed Where You Are For A Specific Purpose

Esther was the queen, but she had never let her nationality be known. Her cousin Mordecai was outside the palace and Esther felt he was making a scene by mourning in sackcloth and ashes. She sent a message to ask why. Here is basically what was said between the two of them:

Mordecai: “The reason that I am in sackcloth and ashes is that your husband (the king) has decreed that all of us who are of our nationality should be put to death in the near future.”

Esther: “That’s too bad. I am sorry to hear it. I didn’t know about it. But I can’t do anything about it because I have not been called into the king’s presence for a month, and the law says if I go without being summoned, I could die.”

Mordecai: “Do not imagine that just because you now live in the king’s palace that you will escape the death penalty that all of us are under. Realize that if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will still arise for the Jews from another place. And who knows? Maybe you have attained this position of royalty for such a time as this?”

Esther: “I understand what you are saying and I agree, so go and assemble all the Jews in the city, and fast for me for three days. I will do the same thing. And then I will go in to the king, which is against the law; and if I die, I die.”

Mordecai tells Esther that if she kept silent and did nothing, it wouldn’t really matter, because deliverance would still come from another source. Mordecai realized that the hand of God is always moving and he places us in specific positions for specific purposes. He knows that Esther is on the throne for a purpose.

Esther did not accidentally win a beauty contest. She was not accidentally the one who became queen. She is there for a very definite purpose, and God has been arranging this all the time. He is prepared for this event. God knows what is coming. That is why we can trust Him.

Esther could have given in to her fears and said: “God, my desires are that I just keep living in the palace and what I want is for You to work without using me. I want You to bend your plans to my desires.”

But instead, once Esther saw the truth that Mordecai revealed to her, she basically said: “God, you have a desire for me to do something which I am scared about – I may even die because of attempting it. But so be it. You’ve placed me here for this exact moment. I will bend my desire to Your will.”

I love the opening words of the poem, God Knows

And I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year:
“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”

And he replied:
“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”

So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night.

We can trust God. When we put our hand in His hand, He has the power to hold us up for His purposes.

And He has a purpose for you. God has placed you in this time in the history of this world for a specific purpose. He has placed you in your position in your family for a specific purpose. He has placed you in your business for a specific purpose. He has placed you in your community for a specific purpose. It is to lead the people in each of those areas into a deeper knowledge of who God is as they watch you boldly live for Him.

He has plans for you to impact your mission field – your family, friends, co-workers, and neighbors.

Will you meet the challenge that He has purposed for you, in spite of your fears?

Just like Esther, you were placed here FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS!

a graphic of a clock with the words "for such a time as this" reminding us of our specific purpose for life

Categories
Serving Others

A Good Way To Spend and Be Spent this Christmas

“A Good Way To Spend and Be Spent this Christmas”
  by brian rushing

In my previous post, I shared a quote from J. I. Packer: “…the Christmas spirit is the spirit of those who, like their Master, live their whole lives on the principle of making themselves poor — spending and being spent — to enrich their fellow humans, giving time, trouble, care and concern, to do good to others — and not just their own friends — in whatever way there seems need.”

I want to share with you a way that you can “spend and be spent” this Christmas… It is something that our family has begun doing each year to change our Christmas tradition.
christmas gifts

In the past, Paige and I went to the stores throughout November and December with our list of people we had to buy gifts for. It was a long list (kind of like yours!). We scrambled to find something for everyone. But we kept realizing that it was hard to buy gifts for our family that they really needed. The reason? They already had everything they needed and more. In fact, all of our family members already have more stuff than fits in all their closets, shelves, and attics! Our houses are overflowing with “stuff.” Does this seem familiar to your experience?

So we discussed the issue and decided to experiment with a different way of gift-giving at Christmas – one that helps us to better embrace the spirit of giving at Christmas. Here’s how we do it – Each adult in the family brings $50 to pool with one another (you could set a different limit, but we landed on $50). We then take the pooled amount of money and have the children in the family look through a “Missions Catalog,” such as the Samaritan’s Purse “Help Others at Christmas” gift catalog. The children then choose how we will spend our money to help others. The children have a great time in picking out items to help other children and families around the world – baby chickens, a hive of honeybees, a fishing boat, medicine, livestock… whatever they want to choose. So instead of the kids searching through a toy catalog for gifts for themselves, they end up searching through a catalog of gifts to give to other people in real need! This leads to some great “teachable moments” as we discuss with them how missionaries use the gifts to share Christ with the families who receive the presents. After selecting the gifts we will provide, we pause to say a prayer asking God to use these gifts to bless the families that receive them and to draw those family members to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.dairy_animals

I know of others in our church family that have begun doing something similar, even giving gifts to one another in the form of donations to important ministries. I know of children who had received their Christmas money and wanted to add some of their “just received funds” into the adult “pool” of money to increase what could be purchased.

It is great to finish our celebration with our families and feel a real sense that we had helped each other better understand the real meaning of Christmas – celebrating what Christ did for us and how important it is that we share Him with others. I love the idea of “giving gifts” to one another that go to help spread God’s Word all over the world to families who need to hear of the great love of Jesus! During this Christmas season, I hope that you will continue to think of ways to help your family be “on mission” for God – spending and being spent – even if that leads to “non-traditional” ideas!

If you would like to do something similar with your family, let me give you two possible sites you can visit to find great ideas:
Samaritan’s Purse
(Search for their Holiday Gift Catalog. You can view the catalog items online or even download the catalog as a .pdf file)

International Mission Board’s Strategic Projects
(You can click on “All Projects” to see all 116 items that the different missionaries are striving to do – such as the Hope Haven Wheelchair project that I recommend!).